Hadaka Matsuri, Japan

Hadaka Matsuri or Naked Festival is a Japanese festival or matsuri in which participants wear a minimum amount of clothing; usually just a Japanese loincloth called fundoshi. Sometimes with a short happi coat and rarely completely naked. Hakada Matsuri are held in dozens of places throughout Japan every year usually in the summer or winter.

More than 10000 loin-clothed partucipants gather at the Saidai-ji temple to vie for the title of "The Lucky Man", an honor achieved by catching the shingi or sacred lucky sticks.

Saidai-ji Temple

The "lucky man" must not only capture the symbolic batons, he must successfully defend himself against 10000 contending men before thrusting them into the container filled with rice. His efforts are well rewarded, however, bestowed upon him will be abundance, wealth and bragging rights for an entire year.

Usually the festivities start at 4p.m. with a mock Hadaka Matsuri for children and traditional Taiko drumming and dance perfomances. In the hours leading up to the main event, groups of men in loincloths run through a pool of freezing water chanting "Wasshoi, Wasshoi" , a phrase of joyful encouragement despitethe fact that it's the middle of winter and temperatures typically fall well below freezing.